


The Mirror

by ConflictingOpinions



Category: Original Work
Genre: Vignette, Wrote this months ago, very short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-27
Updated: 2014-09-27
Packaged: 2018-02-18 22:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2364506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConflictingOpinions/pseuds/ConflictingOpinions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reflections in a bathroom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mirror

The woman stands in front of a mirror. The mirror is all straight lines and shine like the rest of the bathroom; beautiful. The woman is not. She is all jagged edges and grime. She is bulging muscle and calloused hands. She is a tight cord with scar-littered flesh. She does not match this pristine room.

Her eyes were once bright. Now they are dull and tired; they have seen too much. Her hair is matted and filthy even after her shower, and her skin is dry and sun-damaged. She tries a smile. It is brittle, fake. Who she was is dead. She's just a poor replacement.

She rubs her face with her hands, rough palms catching scar tissue. She is tired. So _damn_ tired. She needs to sleep, but that will only bring nightmares. She knows this. After an hour or so she'll wake up screaming, tasting copper, smelling rot, gunfire pounding in her ears. She can't sleep, won't, not even when this is over. 

She slumps down onto the toilet, running her fingers through the greasy, snarled mass she calls hair. It's getting long again. There was a time when she would worry about that, when she would get it cut. Her right hand drops down and finds the chain around her throat, fiddles with the dog tags. There are too many. There should only be two, but she's a sentimental fool. She wants to be the one to deliver them.

The chain drops back down with a  _chink_ . She looks up. “Leave me alone,” she says to the mirror, “Please, just go away.”

She knows the mirror can't answer her, but the reflection in it taunts her. When she finally leaves, the mirror is all bloody cracks and missing pieces. Just like her.

**Author's Note:**

> I know it's short, but I hope you like this all the same. It would make me very happy if you would comment and give me constructive criticism as you see fit. Thank you. :)


End file.
